In a memorable early passage in “The Vagina Monologues,” Eve Ensler quotes various women on the nicknames they had created for the body part that gives the play its title. New York audiences giggled, squirmed and nodded their heads knowingly to the likes of “mushmellow,” “ghoulie” and “Gladys Siegelman” during the show’s original three-year run, which ended in 2003.

“Orchida,” “pepita” and “donut” are among the new set of nicknames offered in “Los Monólogos de la Vagina,” which begins previews at the Westside Theater on Tuesday. “Oh, and our assistant director is Colombian, and she said she used the word ‘cucaracha’ as a child,” said the director, Jaime Matarredona, who is bringing “Monólogos” to New York after 14 years and counting in Mexico City. “So that’s in there now.”

The creative team describes the production as the first open commercial run of a Spanish-language play Off Broadway. While Ms. Ensler has allowed international editions to modify proper names, colloquialisms and other bits of text to reflect local culture — the piece has been translatedinto 50 languages — other aspects of “Monólogos” will sound familiar. “Some things that we made very local in Mexico City — a brand of car or a neighborhood — will go back to the original context,” Mr. Matarredona said.

Ms. Ensler has had an ongoing relationship with the Mexico City production, which also toured in Mexico. When she put together an event in New Orleans in 2008 for the annual V-Day — a campaign stemming from “The Vagina Monologues” that targets violence against girls and women — she invited some of its cast members to join a multilingual anniversary production. “The women from Mexico were astounding in it,” Ms. Ensler said.

In fact, she had already broached the idea of bringing these women to New York years earlier. “This was Eve’s idea from about a decade ago,” said the “Monólogos” co-producer Morris Gilbert. “She suggested over dinner that this production come to the States, and at first I laughed for 20 seconds. And then I thought, How right she is.”

Since that initial discussion, the number of Spanish-speaking New Yorkers has grown by about 180,000, bolstering Ms. Ensler’s idea even further. In addition, Broadway productions like “In the Heights” and a modified revival of “West Side Story” have had portions spoken in Spanish.

And so playlets with titles like “My Angry Vagina” and “Because He Liked to Look at It” (along with others that can’t be printed here) will once again be heard at the Westside Theater, where first Ms. Ensler and then a rotating cast of celebrities performed “The Vagina Monologues” for more than 1,300 performances. Only now they’ll be called “La Vagina Furiosa” and “Porque le Gustaba Verla.”

Image

Eve EnslerCreditOliver Rudkin/Rex Features, via Associated Press

Diversity was a central part of the “Monologues” casting throughout the Off Broadway stand, with Ms. Ensler insisting on at least one person of color in each three-member cast. “Monólogos” hopes to continue this diversity among Spanish speakers in the United States, where Hispanics comprise at least 30 different subgroups. The initial cast (with one brief exception) is made up of performers with huge followings in Mexico, but Mr. Gilbert said the plan was to eventually cast from within Dominican, Puerto Rican, Ecuadorean and other populations.

And Carmen Sepulveda, chief communications officer for D. Expósito and Partners, which is handling marketing for “Monólogos,” pointed out that speaking Spanish is the only qualification for future cast members. “I could see using non-Latina performers who are comfortable in Spanish,” she said. “Anything can happen here.” (One performer unlikely to sign on is María Conchita Alonso, who recently left a San Francisco production of “Monólogos” after protests involving her endorsement of a Tea Party politician.)

Several people connected with “Monólogos” stress that the differences among various ethnicities can be overstated. “From the research we’re doing, the Latino community is more linked than we think,” Mr. Matarredona said. At the same time, though, Ms. Sepulveda said casting changes would probably affect where and how the show spends its advertising dollars.

“There are certain media outlets that cater to specific groups, and we also target certain locations,” she said. “For example, Washington Heights is very Dominican, whereas East Harlem used to be predominantly Puerto Rican but now has a big Mexican population.”

East Harlem is where the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater first performed in 1967, and the initial “Monólogos” cast will include Míriam Colón, the Obie Award-winning founder of that theater. Although Ms. Colón was unfamiliar with Ms. Ensler’s play until the producers approached her, she said she quickly became hooked.

“Hearing these women discuss the role the vagina plays in their lives is very entertaining and very true and at times very shocking,” she said. “And I think Eve has found the formula to include all of these things in a way that is very courageous.”

Ms. Colón is appearing for the first week only, at which point the 1960s recording star Angélica María will join the “Monólogos” cast. Ms. Maria will appear with her daughter, the actress and comedian Angélica Vale, best known for creating the lead role in the telenovela “La Fea Más Bella.” (A third generation of the family might be visible as well: Ms. Vale is pregnant with her second child.) Kate del Castillo (“La Reina del Sur”) rounds out the cast.

As with the original “Vagina Monologues,” which saw everyone from Claire Danes to Rue McClanahan join the cast for brief runs, replacement “Monólogos” performers will be announced frequently. Mr. Gilbert and his producing partner also hope to create a touring company that will travel to other American cities with large Latino populations.

While the four initial “Monólogos” performers live in the United States, Ms. Sepulveda said, they clearly have a draw well beyond those borders. “We have people writing us from Latin American countries on social media to see when they should fly up to see specific actors,” she said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page AR10 of the New York edition with the headline: That Body Part Returns, in Spanish. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe